Chapter Two: Diagon Alley
"A wizard?" Harry repeated, turning the idea over in his head. He had thought that might be the case after reading that letter from Hogwarts, but hearing it from her lips for real brought the idea home. "What exactly is a wizard?"
"A wizard, or a witch- in my case, is a person who can perform magic." Ginny answered. She pointed to the glowing orbs floating above them. "I created those with magic. My ability to appear and disappear inside this cupboard is magic too."
This idea seemed vaguely cool to Harry. Who wouldn't want to appear and disappear at will? He certainly wished that he could do so, especially when on the run from Dudley. "How do I do magic?" he asked, slightly suspicious, but warming up to the idea nevertheless.
Ginny produced her wand and gave a short explanation about how most basic magic was done with wands. She then handed it to him. "Give it a try." She then explained the simple "Lumos" spell.
Harry clutched her wand and staring at it intently, whispered the spell. "Lumos." A gleam of light shone from the tip of the wand and he grinned. "Amazing!"
Ginny nodded and took back the wand, quickly muttering the counter-spell. "Hogwarts is the school where most wizards and witches learn how to do magic. You'll be able to attend beginning on 1 September."
This sounded intriguing to Harry, but then he thought of the Dursleys and he felt his hopes sink as reality sank its claws into him. "I don't think my Aunt and Uncle would approve of this. They won't even believe me about all of this and they definitely won't support me at this Hogwarts. They've already enrolled me at Stonewall High."
There was no answer from Ginny for a moment and Harry was afraid for a moment that she might leave. He didn't want her to leave for some reason. Finally she spoke. "The Dursleys already know that you're a wizard." she said quietly. "That's why they dislike you so much."
Harry's jaw dropped. "What do you mean they know I'm a wizard? How could they possibly know?"
"Your parents were magical too," Ginny explained, "and for your information, they did not die in a car accident."
With that opening, Ginny unfolded to Harry the events surrounding Voldemort's rise and fall from power. She explained how his parents had been killed and then explained how Harry had survived and had consequently become famous, explaining the scar on his forehead to him as well. She further informed him of why he had been left with the Dursleys- for his own safety.
This left Harry's mind quite numb and Ginny opted to let him mourn anew for his parents in silence. Finally he met her eyes again. "What is your connection to all this?"
"I'm from your future, Harry." Ginny told him seriously.
"My future?"
"Time travel." Ginny elaborated. "I traveled through time to save you."
"From what?" Harry asked, a note of fear in his voice.
"Voldemort." Ginny whispered. "He's going to rise again. This scar marks you as his equal." Slowly she reached out, gingerly brushed his hair away, and ran her finger down the lightning bolt-shaped scar. "You are the only one with the power to defeat the Dark Lord. In the future I am from, he defeated you. If you let me help you, it doesn't have to be that way again."
Harry was terrified. Desperately he wanted to deny this, believe that this was some sort of sick farce, but he couldn't. He could see the sincerity in her large brown eyes and Harry had began to feel an implicit trust in her. "You'll help me?"
"Of course." Ginny answered, not betraying even a hint of hesitation, surprising and further endearing her to Harry.
Before Harry could think to ask any more questions, Ginny informed him that they were running out of time. She had him write his acceptance letter for Hogwarts on a piece of parchment she had brought with her and then promised to see to it that it got owled to Hogwarts.
"When will I see you again?" Harry asked.
"Soon." Ginny promised. "We need to go and acquire your school supplies." She gestured toward the supply list that had come with the Hogwarts letter. "I wish we could do it this morning, but I don't think I could sneak away from my family on such short notice. I'll try to arrange something really soon, though. I'll also see to getting you out of this abominable cupboard and into a real bedroom."
"Just how do you intend to do that?" Harry wondered.
A crooked grin appeared on Ginny's lips. It was disturbing to see such a thing on a little girl's face. "You'll see. I'll be along in a few days and you can watch them squirm. After I'm done having fun with them, we'll be off for a terrific day in London!"
They bade each other farewell and Harry watched as Ginny waved her wand and disappeared with a quiet popping noise.
The next days passed slowly for Harry. He was longing for a certain red-head to visit. He tried to entertain himself by reading and re-reading his Hogwarts letter, especially the supply list. The uniform sounded a bit strange, but he realized that it was definitely better than what he would have been wearing at Stonewall High.
Books did not really hold his interest for too long, but the Dark Forces textbook sounded like it could be interesting and useful. As for the rest of it, he could hardly wait to get a wand.
Harry's birthday arrived and when he entered the kitchen, Aunt Petunia immediately demanded that he assist with the cooking of breakfast whilst Uncle Vernon and Dudley lounged at the table.
Some birthday, Harry noted to himself sarcastically.
As he was serving them their bacon, a sharp rap sounded on the front door of 4 Privet Drive.
"Who could that be?" Vernon demanded in an aggravated voice, annoyed that someone would dare disturb his breakfast. The rap sounded again and Vernon reluctantly surrendered the comics to Dudley before making his way to the door.
He found an imposing, red-haired young woman standing on his doorstep with an annoyed expression pasted onto her slightly freckled face. She might have been cute, had it not been for the hostility that was more than evident in her eyes. Everything about her was severe, from the tight bun her hair had been arranged into, to the extreme pointy high heels she wore. Her dark, pin-striped skirt and jacket were even more imposing.
Even though she had yet to utter a word, Vernon Dursley found himself on the defensive. "What do you want?" he demanded.
"I'm from Child Protection Services." she announced, brushing past him and entering the home. "I'm here to do a random inspection of your home. How many children are under your care?"
Vernon didn't know what to do. "T-two he stuttered. But see here . ."
"Names?" she asked imperiously, her arched eyebrows daring him to cause trouble.
"Dudley Dursley and Harry Potter."
She produced a clipboard, seemingly out of nowhere and began to write, all while furiously frowning. She finished and looked at him. "Let's meet them."
Mr. Dursley reluctantly led her to the kitchen where everyone else was.
Harry had heard the exchange at the door and in the hall and he knew precisely who this person was and what she was up to. He was thrilled. What he was not expecting however, was Ginny's appearance. When she walked into the kitchen following Vernon, Harry's mouth dropped. Was this what his friend really looked like?
Ginny began to ask all sorts of demanding questions. This amused Harry, though he managed to keep a straight face as the Dursleys did their best to impress Ginny. He nearly broke out into outright laughter when she began a tirade, lecturing the Dursleys over their son's obesity.
"He's larger than a whale!" Ginny declared, sneaking a wink at Harry while the Dursleys weren't looking at her. "If you don't watch out, someone is going to kidnap him and take him to the lard factory!"
Petunia tearfully informed Ginny that Dudley was simply big boned.
Ginny bluntly informed them that they had better put Dudley on a serious diet and informed them that she would be following up. She then turned to Harry and started demanding explanations for his frailness. Petunia had no real excuse and Ginny told them that they had best see to it that he had double or triple portions at meals.
Doomsday came for the Dursleys when Ginny decided to inspect bedrooms. "Show me to where you sleep." she directed Harry.
Harry promptly led her to the cupboard under the stairs. Ginny had of course already seen it, but she did a really good job of being surprised and outraged while the Dursleys quailed, waiting for her to lash out at them. She didn't disappoint them.
"Have you ever been to a prison?" Ginny asked the Dursleys in a quiet voice.
Mr. And Mrs. Dursley's eyes were bulging in fear. "Er . . no."
"Would you like to go soon?"
No answer.
"Then I suggest that you make some changes." Ginny informed them cooly. "I'm going to take Mr. Potter back to my office and I'm going to discuss a few things with him. When he returns tonight, things had better be different. If they aren't, your life will become very miserable."
No answer.
"Good.. Come with me Mr. Potter." Ginny directed. With that, Harry and Ginny exited 4 Privet Drive. Silence reigned as they left, with the exception of the slam of the front door and the click of Ginny's high heels.
As soon as they made it around the corner, Ginny burst into hysterical laughter. Harry joined her. They found a small park and made use of one of its benches. "The look on their faces was priceless!" Harry declared, deciding that this was most definitely the best birthday he had ever had.
Ginny smiled. "It was. Happy Birthday, Harry."
He acknowledged her good wishes with a smile. There was a small silence. Ginny was about to announce that they should leave for Diagon Alley, but was interrupted by a question from Harry. "Is this what you really look like?"
A blush spread across Ginny's face. "I kind of looked like this before I traveled through time." she confessed. "The clothes and hair weren't quite my style. As for here and now, I look the same as when you first met me. It was only my soul that traveled through time."
"So you can use magic to change your appearance?" Harry figured out.
"Yeah. Illusion charms and the such."
Harry felt embarrassed to pry, but he was terribly curious. "What's your family like?"
Ginny smiled and told Harry all about her family. Her oldest brothers that she admired, the twins and their pranks, and Ron who was a dear. She talked about her mum who loved them so much and her rather eccentric dad. Harry could tell that she loved them all a great deal and began to feel pangs of regret for not being able to grow up in a loving family.
"Do they know that you've traveled back in time?"
"No." Ginny confessed. "I'm pretty sure they'd send me to the funny farm if I tried explaining it to them. Maybe I'll tell them someday though."
Harry grinned. "They'll be shocked." His face got a little more serious before asking another question that he'd been wondering about for a few days. "How did we know each other in the future?"
Ginny's face became beet-red. "Er . . . Ron was your best friend, so we kind of knew each other."
Stupidity wasn't something that ran through the Potter family. "How else did we know each other?"
Telling him the truth about this wasn't what Ginny had been planning, but now faced with a direct question, she couldn't bring herself to lie. Not to him. "Harry, I was your wife."
A myriad of emotions threatened to overwhelm Harry. His wife? A part of him shivered, thinking about how creepy this was. Another part of him was overjoyed with the idea of having someone that he could call family while still another part of him was disbelieving.
Her hand on his knee jerked him out of his reverie. He looked her in the eyes and she spoke quietly to him. "We don't need to worry about that now, Harry. You're only eleven and I'm now younger than that. It's irrelevant other than the fact that I care deeply for you and will consequently do everything I can to help you succeed. For now, let's be friends."
"Friends it is." Harry agreed. That sounded acceptable. Being friends wasn't weird. He shoved his emotions aside, not wanting to have them cloud up his birthday. "Were we going to go shopping for supplies?"
"That's the plan." Ginny replied. "Our first stop is Gringotts to access the bank account your parents left behind for you." This led to a discussion about goblins, Diagon Alley, and just how the magical monetary system worked.
Before leaving for Diagon Alley, Ginny used her wand to change up Harry's appearance to avoid him being recognized. She fixed his glasses, shrunk his clothes a bit, changed his hair to blond, and covered up the scar. A conjured mirror showed the results to an impressed Harry.
Ginny then created a Portkey which transported them to the alley near the Leaky Cauldron. Tom the barkeep did not recognize the impressive red-haired young woman and the boy whom he assumed was her son when they entered the pub, so he offered to do the necessary wand tap to get them into Diagon Alley, guessing that they were Muggles. They did nothing to disabuse him of this idea.
The first stop was Gringotts. A quick blood test confirmed Harry's identity in the absence of his normal vault key. He was able to sign up for a new one and cancel the old one. The goblins weren't very appreciative of his disguise, but he explained that he was avoiding public notice and the goblins promised their discretion. Ginny did not come to his vault with him, fearing that the goblins suspicion would be aroused if her disguise was detected. She told Harry to withdraw plenty of Galleons and promised to wait for him.
After that, they made the rounds to the various shops. They bumped into Malfoy at Madam Malkins. Perceiving Harry to be a Muggleborn, Malfoy ended up being quite rude to Harry. Ginny explained the Pureblood vs Muggleborn problem to Harry between there and their next stop.
Harry was the most excited about Ollivander's wand shop. Against her better judgement, Ginny went in with Harry. Her fears about the wandmaker's magical perception turned out to be well founded
"Mr. Potter." Ollivander declared. His eyes turned to Ginny and narrowed in suspicion. "I want to say Miss Weasley, but that doesn't seem to be quite right." There was a very long awkward silence. "Mrs. Potter might be more appropriate, but that doesn't seem to fit either."
"Call me Ms. Weasley." Ginny directed. "I would also ask you not to mention this to Professor Dumbledore."
Mr. Ollivander was not pleased. "This is highly irregular Ms. Weasley. What is going on here?"
"Nothing nefarious." Ginny said sharply. "Please, you'll have to trust that we know what we're doing."
An argument was clearly raging behind Mr. Ollivander's eyes. "You have a wand, Ms. Weasley. Let me see it."
Ginny produced her wand and handed it to the wandmaker who examined it very carefully. "Cherry and phoenix feather. Twelve inches." He looked up at Ginny. "I can tell that I am the maker of this wand, but I have no memory of doing so." His eyes widened as he realized what this might mean.
"Like I said," Ginny reiterated. "You'll just have to trust us. Please."
Ollivander muttered to himself for a few moments before finally giving in. "All right. I can't see myself doing such fine handiwork for someone who I knew was evil." He turned his attention to Harry, saying nothing more of the matter. "Which arm is your wand-arm?"
Of course, the wand that chose Harry set Ollivander off again, but Ginny was able to get him to promise to not spill the beans. They departed and made a few more stops. They spent a great deal of time at the book shop, thumbing mostly through books on Defense and made several purchases.
A stop at the Owl Emporium resulted in Harry purchasing Hedwig, with no prompting from Ginny at all. Ginny for herself was glad to see Hedwig. She had always liked the owl. With that, their business at Diagon Alley was concluded. Ginny suggested that they duck into Muggle London to buy Harry some decent clothes, and they did so with some banknotes that they had exchanged at Gringotts. They left Hedwig and most of Harry's new supplies under Tom's watchful care.
On their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry spotted a Muggle restaurant and suggested they go and have a bite to eat. So they did. They talked about many things. Eventually, the topic of Harry's parents came up and Ginny did her best to tell Harry as much about them as she knew. This inevitably led to Sirius Black.
Harry was of course outraged at Sirius' situation. That's when Ginny informed Harry of her plans to raid Azkaban. Harry thought it all sounded marvelous.